Freelance Online Payments – How to Reduce Your Fees

A growing number of people is migrating to the online work environment. This is mainly the case due to the fact that online freelance work is the most liberal labor market in the world. You can negotiate directly with clients from around the globe and set your work conditions without the middleman.

What can be inconvenient in this form of work are payment procedures. When you’re getting paid online, you might have to pay high fees to the payment mediators. In this guide, we’ll explain how to reduce fees for online payments.

Pay less using PayPal

PayPal is one of the most popular online payment services, due to its reliability and expediency. However, it also charges some fees for online payments. For entrepreneurs and online workers it’s $0.30 plus 2.9% of the paid amount of money. For larger transactions, it can be a substantial sum. Here’s what you can do to minimize these fees.

Getting paid as a friend or a family member

If you use PayPal to create invoices for your work, you’ll automatically be charged the aforementioned fee for business users.

However, if you use another option, such as an online invoice maker, or an accounting software, you can write in that invoice that you are client’s relative or friend. By doing so, you’ll dodge the payment fee and keep a few cents more on your account.

The main drawback of this payment is the step in which the client needs to sign in their PayPal account and authorized this friend/relative payment there. Also, the payment they make that way won’t be protected, which can be off-putting for some clients.

That’s why you should suggest this payment hack only to reliable and long-term clients.

A direct transfer to a bank account

Another clever way to access your PayPal payment without fees is to make a direct transfer to your bank account. It will take one or two work days for this transaction, which is an acceptable amount of time.

Nevertheless, you need to check with your bank the currency exchange rates. Some online freelancers get paid in dollars or euros, but they can only withdraw their payment in their domestic currency. Since there are usually some fees here, make sure to double check these conditions.

Online payments via credit cards

More and more online entrepreneurs are turning to plastic payments. Credit cards are omnipresent and they’re accepted as payment methods in every corner of the world.

Also, their providers are constantly making an additional effort to improve their security features. For instance, Mastercard has recently started using the fingerprint technology for their cards.

What you need to do if you want to get paid via credit cards is to create an account on Wave, PayPal, or any other online payment platform. When your client makes a credit card payment, it’s processed to your account. After that, you withdraw your money via the option you’re previously chosen (read the PayPal paragraph above).

In case the number of payments you receive via credit cards rapidly increases, think about getting your own processing terminal for this sort of payments. E-commerce entrepreneurs often have the need to start using these payment options, to reduce their fees and speed up the payment procedure. Read more about the solutions in the article published by PC Mag.

Electronic funds payment

If you want to receive your payment as fast and least expensive as possible, you should use the electronic funds’ transfer. With this payment method, the money is transferred directly from your client’s bank account to your bank account.

The greatest benefit for both parties is the fact that there are no fees. Also, there’s no hassle with paper documents, stamps, or any other nuisance that could waste your time. Apart from that, you can do the entire procedure from the comfort of your home.

A fly in the ointment here is the fact that it might take a few days if the sender and the receiver of this payment have accounts in different banks. In that case, there also might be some payment fees, but they may vary from bank to bank. Because of that, ask your bank officials about these potential fees.

Conclusion

Working in this day and age has many benefits, especially in the online community. Still, getting paid electronically includes some inconveniences, like fees and payment delays, which can make it difficult for you to get properly paid for your work.

That’s why it’s imperative to check the terms and conditions of the services you’re planning to use for payments. There are always some ways to reduce the fees, like the ones presented in this article, and make the most of your online work.

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AuthorBio: Mark is a biz-dev hero at Invoicebus – a simple invoicing service that gets your invoices paid faster. He passionately blogs on topics that help small biz owners succeed in their business. He is also a lifelong learner who practices mindfulness and enjoys long walks in nature more than anything else.